Following an
investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD),
Las Vegas-based Caesar’s Entertainment Group will pay $175,128 in back wages
and liquidated damages to 889 employees at two Indiana casinos it operates,
for minimum wage violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the
Department of Labor (DOL) is reporting.

WHD investigators
determined that Horseshoe Hammond Casino in Hammond and the Horseshoe
Southern Indiana Casino in Elizabeth made deductions from employees’ wages
to cover their costs for individual employees’ casino gaming licenses
required by the Indiana Gaming Commission. Such a license is non-transferrable,
valid only in the establishment for which it was issued, and must be renewed
annually. “The casinos deducted 100 percent of the license fee from their
employees’ wages, creating minimum wage violations when those deductions
brought the employees’ pay below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per
hour,” DOL said.

Investigators
determined 485 employees at the Hammond casino were due $45,938 and 404
employees of the Elizabeth casino were due $41,626. All employees will also
receive an equal, additional amount in liquidated damages.

“Employers must pay
employees the wages they have legally earned for all the hours they have
worked,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Patricia Lewis in
Indianapolis. “Employers can avoid wage violations by contacting the
Department of Labor for compliance assistance. We offer a wide variety of
tools and live consultation services to explain the rules clearly to them.”

Employers who
discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve
those violations without litigation through the PAID program at
www.dol.gov/whd/paid/

For more
information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Division, call
toll-free at (866) 487-9243.

Information is also
available at www.dol.gov/whd including
a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by
WHD.